One of the things I highly revere in a game is when the developers go out of their way to craft a unique universe that’s believable in its own quaint ways. EA’s Dead Space is one that attempts to do so; it’s not brilliantly conceived but it still has a sense of identity. In order to better flesh out this IP, EA also decided to supplement it with a fully voice-acted webcomic series as well as an animated direct-to-DVD feature, both media serving as a precursor to the events in the game. Now that we got our hands on a copy of Dead Space, I thought it would be interesting to check out what the film version had to offer.
As expected, the plot is pretty trite and at worst, a little confusing. As head of the security detail for the “planet-cracker”-class USS Ishimura, tough-as-nails Alissa Vincent needs to keep her wits about and her team-mates alive as she deals with multi-limbed mutates monstrosities hellbent on mauling anything with a pulse. As far as survival horror plots go, everything falls neatly into place so all you have to do, really, is shut off your brain and take in the action. Interestingly, skirting around the edge of the actual fighting is what makes Downfall less slasher and more macabre. There’s an air of mystery surrounding the strange obelisk known as the “Artifact” as well as a psuedo-religious conspiracy regarding the “Unitologists”; it’s not brilliant but hey, a decent attempt was made to prevent this from turning into a Jason X.
I also have to say the artwork’s not half bad, being not completely dissimilar to the stylings of Titan A.E. Voice-acting is solid across the board and there’s an eerie rendition of “Twinkle, twinkle little star” that makes up in spades for the lacklustre soundtrack.
While the 74 minutes I spent watching Downfall was largely forgettable, in the end, it achieved its supreme goal: it whetted my appetite for warming up a game of Dead Space. Kudos to EA for trying something different and more or less succeeding with it.
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